Meet the man who gave Patrick Kane his signature NHL playoff mullet

Meet the man who gave Patrick Kane his signature NHL playoff mullet

Carmelo Preiti cut Patrick Kane’s hair for the first time in training camp four years ago. It became a monthly ritual, with the Chicago Blackhawks forward visiting the upscale salon throughout the season. When the playoffs arrived, Kane wanted something new.

He asked Preiti for his opinion. Preiti, the son of a barber, showed Kane an old picture of Jaromir Jagr and a curly, shoulder-length mullet. Preiti thought they were joking around.

Kane liked what he saw.

“He’s like, ‘done! That’s it,’” Preiti said with a laugh on Wednesday.

Every time the Blackhawks won a playoff series that spring, Kane returned to the chair in Preiti’s downtown barbershop to have the mullet shaped and maintained. Chicago kept on winning, and by the time the Blackhawks lifted the Stanley Cup — for the first time in 49 years — the mullet was famous.

“And that’s how it started, as a joke,” Preiti said.

It’s not the easiest haircut. But it’s like we say: Business up front, party in the back

Kane returned to the shop on Monday along with Blackhawks rookie Brandon Saad. Two mullets were ordered.

“I’m thinking to myself, ‘sh–, I’ve forgotten how to do this,’” Preiti said with a laugh. “You know? Because it’s been a while. And then I was like, ‘ok, I got it.’”

Preiti, who was born in Italy, is the manager at 316 Club Barber Spa, based in the heart of downtown Chicago. The shop advertises “a unique Las Vegas-style ambiance,” offering a pool table and flat-screen televisions. A top-end haircut costs US$55.

There is no menu option for a mullet.

And Preiti, who is 36, had no idea how to produce a mullet when Kane first jumped at the idea four years ago. He had to call his father, the old barber.

“These mullets go back way before my time,” he said.

He was told to cut the hair very short on the sides. The top had to be short and spiky. And the back had to be shaped with care. Preiti said it was his idea to shave racing stripes into the side, as an added, 1980s-inspired level of outlandishness.

On Monday, he shaved three racing stripes into each side of Kane’s head. Saad was only given two stripes. Preiti said he told Saad that if anyone asked about the disparity, he should tell them stripes had to be earned.

Preiti said Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews has visited him for a haircut. Tough guy Daniel Carcillo visited a few days ago, though Preiti said: “I couldn’t convince him to do anything crazy with that hair.”

Even Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville has visited. It was during the Stanley Cup year, and the famously mustachioed coach went in for a trim.

“Typically, as a barber, after I’m done I ask, ‘hey, do you want me to trim the eyebrows or the mustache?’” Preiti said. “And he’s like, ‘you know what? I’ve never had anybody do it. But, alright, fine, go ahead. Just be careful.’”

So, he was.

“I think I barely touched it,” Preiti said with a laugh.

He has cut other famous hair. Kerry Wood was photographed inside the barbershop back when he was a pitcher for the Chicago Cubs. Caleb Hanie, a one-time backup quarterback for the Chicago Bears, has also sat in front of Preiti.

The hockey players seem like his most reliable customers, though. Preiti said many of the players seem to live downtown, which might help. The Blackhawks won the first game of their Western Conference quarter-final series with the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday, a 2-1 win in overtime.

Kane recorded an assist. He opted against a mullet last year, and Chicago lost in the first round. If the Blackhawks keep winning, the haircut might be credited with an assist, too.

“It’s not the easiest haircut,” Preiti said. “But it’s like we say: Business up front, party in the back.”